Melrose Polling Consolidation, Closures Recommended

MELROSE, MA — Before Amy Kamosa left her city clerk position this spring, she wrote a letter to Secretary of State William Galvin's office alerting of potential accessibility issues for some of the city's polling locations.

A review of the locations found that four of the six surveyed — City Hall, the Winthrop School, the Steele House and the middle school — are not up to state standards.

In light of the results, the Board of Registrars of Voters has offered two suggestions to the city lawmakers: Make the middle school a permanent centralized voting location or close the Winthrop School and Steele House polling locations and move two precincts to the Roosevelt School, along with some other reshuffling.

The order was assigned Monday night to the Legal & Legislative subcommittee.

Since the pandemic-related legislation that allowed for centralized voting has not been extended, the City Council would need to vote in favor of a "Home Rule Petition" asking the state to allow such a change to be made permanent.

Two elections were held at the middle school in the fall as the city looked to lessen the need for poll workers and provide more space for voters to socially distance.

The centralized location — coupled with expanded early and mail-in voting — worked as nearly 18,000 residents cast ballots in the presidential election.

"The move to the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School Gymnasium for September and November 2020 election proved to be an operational success," the Board wrote in a memo.

The Board's other suggestion was to move the two precincts that vote at the Winthrop (Ward 4, Precinct 2 and Ward 6, Precinct 2) to Memorial Hall and the one precinct that votes at the Steele House (Ward 1, Precinct 2) to the Roosevelt School, the latter of which would bring all Ward 1 voting to the Roosevelt.

The Board also recommended moving Ward 4, Precinct 1 and Ward 6, Precinct 1 voting from City Hall to Memorial Hall.

"Given the proximity of these two locations and the space available at Memorial Hall, it would make sense to no longer split these two wards based on precinct," the Board said.

The City Council would not need state approval to make those changes.

The accessibility issue at the middle school — missing "Van Accessible signage" in the parking — could be easily fixed. City Hall's issues — pavement damage near the accessible entrance and a lack of people on hand to service the elevator should issues arise during voting hours — could also be remedied, according to the Department of Public Works.

But the Board said the "it was not feasible to remediate the issues noted at the Winthrop School," where the pathway from the accessible entrance to the polls is "substantially longer" than the pathway from the main entrance to the polls.

The resident-only parking lot without accessible parking at the Steele House could be addressed, but the Board cited continued parking issues and a poor layout in recommending the spot be closed as a polling location.

Note: A previous version of this story noted three precincts could move to the Roosevelt. That has been corrected to two.

Mike Carraggi can be reached at mike.carraggi@patch.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi. Subscribe to Melrose Patch for free local news and alerts and like us on Facebook.